Citizen Participation in Pursuit of Government Accountability

One of the more recent solutions introduced in the Philippine government to curb corruption is the Commission on Audit’s Citizen Participatory Audit project. It capitalizes on participatory citizenship to help monitor government projects. This article tackles the present gains and issues about the program.

The Philippines has been plagued by corruption issues for many years: from the colonial period to present time, this issue has persisted. During the past years, the Philippines has maintained a relatively similar score in world corruption rankings and research, (the scale being 0 to 100, the latter figure being very clean), but still low: 36 in 2013, 38 in 2014, 35 in 2015, 35 again in 2016, and most recently, 34 in 2017 (Transparency International). From last year’s 101th ranking, it slipped down into 111th this year (out of 180 countries).

One of the answers that has been brought to the table in order to combat corruption is the involvement of people and their need to report abuses, suggest constructive government mechanisms, take part in government processes, among many others. Simply put, it is encapsulated in the theme called citizen participation.

Published originally on 18 April 2018 at Conflict, Peace and Democracy (CPD) Policy Blog of the University of Graz (Austria)

CPD Policy Blog aims to create a bridge between science and politics. It tackles challenges and identifies opportunities in policy-making: from engagement of grassroots movement to decision-making by high-ranking government officials.